I imagine Lemmy skews WAY to the side of PCs/computers. But the average consumer is almost exclusively using their phone for everything except work and taxes. I'm a digital native and I even find browsing Lemmy to be easier via app than browser.
I use a desktop or laptop computer almost daily in my personal life. Mobile devices are terrible for actual productivity. And security. And usability.
And security
Disagree.
Sure, privacy wise, you can say that they are terrible (freedom wise, they are not great either). But Security? Phones are probably the most secure devices (as long as you keep them updated). Verified Boot, Sanboxing for every app, Strict Permission Control, Default Encryptions, Limiting Password attempts per X amount of time, to make brute force difficult, and can even attempt to wipe itself if too many incorrect password entry. Even if an app is malicious, all you need to do is uninstall it and most of the time they do not persist.
Most desktop installations require admin or sudo permissions, one malicious program/package and you gotta wipe clean and reinstall.
Cameras and microphones that have no physical disconnect. Virtual keyboards. NSA subsidies for cheap phones sold in poor areas. Zero visibility or access to OS components without special steps.
Windows let users install and run any junk binary to their appdata folder by default. That's why cryptolocker got real popular around 2010. Granted this isn't supporting my point, but admin is not required in a lot of instances.
I guess I'm saying I disagree with your disagreement. Non-mobile is far more secure. My desktop and laptops do all of the stuff you listed as mobile capabilities.
Again, the government surveillance aspect is more of a privacy issue. Yea, I hate how intrusive the government is, but, from a purely security perspective, if your threat model isn't targeted surveillance by the government (which for most people, that's not their threat model), if you think about how much technical knowlege the average person has, a smart phone does a better job protecting them from the every day security threats than a computer.
NSA subsidies for cheap phones sold in poor areas.
Cheap smartphones are subsidized by the "recommended apps" screen that phone manufacturers add, that app developers/publishers paid for so that their app is listed during the phone's set up process, that's why they are so cheap.
Drawing a distinction between privacy and security is kind of nonsense in this context. While they are technically different, they're only different in the way that an apple and a fruit are different. Privacy is an aspect of security.
If your privacy was violated in any other context you would not feel secure.
I don't think Lemmy is the right sample to ask this question. Definitely a lot of gamers and tech enthusiasts here.
Personally I avoid doing computer tasks on my phone if I can at all help it. Trying to accomplish tasks on a tiny mobile screen is just frustrating and limited. Have both desktop and laptop that I prefer to use.
Question: am I on the toilet?
I use mostly my phone for everything not work related. It's in my pocket at all times. It's faster than my ancient ThinkPad. It uses less power. It has a higher resolution screen. It has better speakers. Other than keyboard, it's better in every way.
Unless I need to type more than 3 minutes, or open more than 3 tabs, I just use my phone. Includes sshing into the odd server for a quick check or tweak.
My wife uses her laptop maybe once a month. Most "normies" rarely use a computer, some even don't own one.
Big purchases require big screen.
Idk man, pretty sure musk bought a major world power with the tiny screen
Millennial in the US. These are my main devices: iPhone, gaming pc, steam deck, and an old MacBook Pro.
Honestly with how far right big tech has moved, along with the predatory tracking and telemetry, I’m considering giving up smart phones for good. Not sure I even want to bother switching to a Pixel with Graphene OS after my iPhone is done.
I miss simplicity, so I’m actively evaluating if a dumb phone (or even an e-ink dumb phone) is right for me. I’m also evaluating lugging my laptop around when I’m out and about because I can simply buy mobile service and plug in a USB cell modem if I need internet. My old 2012 MacBook Pro running Linux doesn’t track me and treat me like data cattle, so it may be worth carrying that around since I don’t get the same feeling of disgust compared to when I look at my smartphone.
Big tech ruined everything.
Edit: on mobile, fixed some typos
I volunteer at the public library. Almost all the people who come in are phones only, and totally lost on a PC. They come in to fill out gov't PDFs that won't open on their phones and to print stuff out. My classmates, in the IT program (!) have a lot of trouble navigating on their laptops, and only a couple of us have desktops at all.
Who goes into IT without knowing how to use a computer?
People hear that it's a higher paying office job that has a low barrier for entry, not realizing that continuing education and constant learning are mandatory. If you don't have a passion for it, you struggle.
I ask myself that on a regular basis.
Probably the old assumption “there’s money in computers” is still guiding some people into the wrong field.
Smartphone is my least common choice. PC most of the time, smart tv for YouTube, tablet, then phone.
PC is for gaming and doing things I do on my phone but easier and faster
I use computers at work. Outside of work I use my phone, my Steamdeck, and my PS5 for my needs/entertainment. After fixing and working on computers all day, I don't wanna even see another computer after I leave the office. So I just don't own one. I borrow my grandma's laptop if I absolutely need to use a computer outside of work lol.
The blue collar people I know only use a phone for personal computing, I have a spare laptop I lend to co workers so they can complete CBT and badging if a phone won't cut it.
More than once I've had both my personal laptop and the loaner at a jobsite so the crew can get badged quicker.
In the BDSM community CBT stands for cock & ball torture.
In the mental health community CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
That’s the first explanation I was able to find, and I still don’t know what everyone here is talking about. Why do Americans love to use so many acronyms for anything and everything?
Damn, I haven't heard about using a laptop for CBT but that shit probably hurts - that's gonna be a wide surface area for impact.
My brain: Uncomfortable image of slamming the lid shut
Shit, I just thought of using it as a flat bludgeoning object... I think you have a future as a kinksmith. That's the special kind of creative thinking.
I may be an outlier (well, maybe not on lemmy...), but I have 4 PCs that I use regularly:
These are the ones I am left with after getting rid of some hardware I didn't need.
The average non-tech person only has a phone. And maybe a shared family notebook if at any point someone needed a computer for things that you can't do on the phone (like filing taxes and such).
My phone is basically a mp3 player that can do 2FA. And of course for for communicating while traveling, though often enough the phone is only there to provide the hotspot.
But other than that, I'll use the laptop whenever possible.
Desktop computer mainly, sometimes a laptop. Tablets are painful to use IMO
People are responding personally in this thread, which does not answer the actual question being asked. Lemmizens are very far from most people.
I'd be shocked if most people had PCs any more - at best, an old laptop to lug out for "paperwork."
Phone is for work only. Tower PC for everything else.
I'm probably an outlier.
m8 literally everyone on the fediverse is an outlier 😅
My thoughts exactly. The number of Linux users and programmers here may distort the picture OP gets from these comments.
I've only ever used a high end gaming PC (cost me about $5,300, but it was worth it) to play games, draw, browse the internet, and social media. I'm really not a smartphone kind of person and I think it's because I'm mostly a PC gamer who has grown accustomed to always having a huge 27-inch 2K screen and having everything respond instantaneously, as opposed to a 3-5 second input lag on everything.
Seems like smartphones are generally used more often than PCs among younger cohorts compared to older. In Britain at least.
That's a very different question. A smartphone can to some degree emulate the other devices listed so when people are asked to pick only one device most are naturally going to choose that even if it's not currently their primary device, and since they could only choose one it's not useful in determining how many people use other devices. It also appears to be a follow-up question asking about second most important devices so it's definitely not useful out of context.
From that survey question alone you cannot reasonably claim which device is used most often.
I only use my phone when not at home. At home, it’s about 50/50 tablet/desktop.
Back during early COVID there were a bunch of people caught out not having anywhere to work from in their home.
That to me suggested a lot about where phone and tablet usage have gone, and where desktop and laptop usage has now gone. It seems a lot people see laptops and computers as specialist devices.
There are at least four computers and three laptops in my house, but not chance my friends have that.
I have a high-end gaming computer, but it is headless(doesn't have a monitor) I use a VR headset and Virtual desktop instead of a monitor. In Virtual desktop I have two 4k 120hz screens. I use my computer from a comfy recliner, or standing, or walking around. Whatever fits the use case. While in my home, or any home with decent wi-fi, I have access to my gaming PC. And I can live the augmented reality life.
Cell internet isn't quite good enough for the same thing to be possible out and about yet. But it's honestly not that far off. It's good enough for a productivity desktop experience, but streaming a 4k game or video is not great on cell. Might be viable if I drop it to one 1080p monitor at 60hz and drop the bandwidth target to 1/8th or so. Haven't tried. Assuming the consistency of bandwidth will be a concern. Too many sporadically dropped packets for unbuffered video to play smoothly.
But for the most part, the VR headset has replaced my computer monitor, my TV, and my phone while at home. It's an android based headset, so I can load any phone games I play on it. And play them on a 6 foot wide "phone" using my hands as hyper accurate laser pointers instead of mashing the screen with fingers, covering up the very thing I need to poke.
What headset do you use that can output that resolution at that refresh rate?
My experience has been that most people only use a computer at work and use their phone or a smart TV for everything else. Although, they usually also own a laptop for when a computer is required
Mostly desktop, at least at home. I have 3 laptops and a desktop at work. Phone is for googling, doomscrolling, music, and light reading.
I think a big majority of the general population are phone-only on their own time, and a bunch of those use a PC just for work.
Personally I just use all the computers. I use my phone plenty, and I’m on my work machine all day. Then at home I just put together a nice setup with the desktop’s monitors on arms attached to a big table next to the couch. So I can just be chilling in the family room and swing a monitor over in front of me. It’s made me use the PC a lot more.
I'm on my laptop all the time, and I don't use a smartphone at all. I'm not a luddite, I just don't like the world of smartphones. I enjoy being disconnected when I'm out. I enjoy using an OS that I can control and modify to my heart's content. Am I weird? Do I care? My friends keep forgetting and try to send texts to my landline though, which is annoying. I might replace my landline with a dumb phone, maybe. Ftr, I'm a millenial.
i see more and more mobile-only households all the time. and people with landline internet at home that has never seen a pc. only televisions, phones and tablets. an increasing number of people don't even have that, they live off their cell phone's internet.
personally, i'm 'desktop only'. my phone i use only as a phone. i have no tablet, no watch, no gaming console. my laptops never leave home, they're just 'small desktops'. when i need one, i grab some spare junk from the office to take to a site.
For consumption of content, phone to laptop use is probably about 70% phone and 30% laptop.
For production of content, 20% phone and 80% laptop, with Lemmy being a large part of the 20% phone production.
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